Dr. Dilay Z. Karadöller from Koç University will virtually visit our lab on April 20th and give a speech titled "Effects of Modality Differences on the Development of Spatial Language and Memory". Please contact lcd@metu.edu.tr

Abstract:

The development of spatial language is considered to be determined by an interaction of cognitive and linguistic factors. In the previous literature, the interplay of these factors has been studied exclusively by focusing on the linguistic variation across different spoken languages and focusing on hearing children who are exposed to a language from birth. In this talk, I will present variation in language modality -such as in sign, speech, and gesture- as a novel perspective to investigate the development of spatial language use and the subsequent memory for spatial relations. To do so, I will draw evidence from child and adult hearing speakers of Turkish as well as child and adult deaf signers of Turkish Sign Language (Türk İşaret Dili, TİD) participating in a spatial description and memory experiment. I will discuss results of two experiments showing that although the variation in language modality influences the development of spatial language use, it does not necessarily predict the relationship between spatial language use and subsequent spatial memory. Possible theoretical and methodological implications will be addressed to guide future research.